This Cajun-Style Boil Skips The Seafood But Keeps All The Flavor

Full of oceanic flavor, a seafood boil is a yummy meal that's perfect for sharing with friends over a beer. However, serving an abundance of seafood to several people doesn't come cheap. The solution? Make a Cajun-style boil that skips the seafood but keeps all the flavor by using the same aromatic spices and doubling up on the sausage and eggs.

A classic seafood boil is made with a base of Andouille sausage that's simmered with potatoes and corn in a fragrant broth spiced with Old Bay or Creole seasoning. Seafood, like lobsters, shrimp, mussels, and crabs, are added to this bubbling broth and cooked through before they're drained and served with a buttery sauce and several boiled eggs. To make a seafood-free version of this Louisiana staple, sear your sausage in plenty of butter to create some characterful caramelization on the surface and set it aside. Then in the same pan, sauté your aromatics, such as chopped onion and minced garlic, before adding in your spice mix and a glug of chicken stock. At this point, feel free to toss in some chunks of potato and corn. Once your broth has bubbled and reduced, add more butter to lend it a glossy sheen before returning the sausage to the pan. Cascade this entire aromatic mixture over a platter of halved boiled eggs and serve with some crunchy bread.

While you can use water instead of chicken stock to make up the liquid element of your Cajun boil, the stock will imbue it with a rich savory flavor and lend it plenty of body. As the broth condenses, all those umami flavors (and the aroma of the cayenne, coriander, and cloves in the spice mix) will intensify, creating a deep orange jus with an abundance of attitude that's ready to be soaked up by the potatoes and corn. Enriching this punchy elixir with creamy butter turns it into a rich sauce with a thicker viscosity and shine that clings better to the sausage and eggs. 

The best thing about making a seafood-free Cajun boil? You don't have to be stingy with the protein to keep costs down. Simply use plenty of budget-friendly sausage and some affordable eggs to create a meal that's both satisfying and filling without a hefty grocery bill. Seafood boils are supposed to be messy but this version, made with economical pantry staples, promises to be a whole lot neater seeing as you won't be cracking any lobster tails or removing prawn heads with your fingers. If eggs aren't your thing, you can give chicken the seafood boil treatment by deep frying battered chicken wings and pouring the buttery seasoned sauce over them.